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Mono JLA or JLA/JLI Ally deck?
Topic Started: Mar 26 2013, 10:26 PM (1,094 Views)
The_Joker
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I've been trying to build a solid JL Ally deck list or find one that works. Also, I have problems with deciding whether to play a mono JLA or a JLA/JLI Ally deck. The only reason I'd play the JLA/JLI version is because of the amazing Fire, but if there are more pros playing a mono JLA version, I'll ditch the team-up.

What I know, the main cards for both decks are:

4x Connor Hawke<>Green Arrow, Son of the Archer
4x Shayera Thal<>Hawkgirl, Thanagarian Enforcer
2x Aquaman, Arthur Curry
4x Katar Hol<>Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer
4x Hero's Welcome
4x Magnificent Seven
3-4 Reform The League
2-3 Disband the League - maybe without it
4x Nth Metal
3x Monitor Womb Station - maybe without it


Now comes the part where I don't know in what direction should I go, whether as JLAlly or as JLI/JLAlly. Any advice would be appreciated :)
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Wallywest1988
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JLA/JLI work really well together. They both have decent drops and combining them makes it mesh really well. Both teams have power house cards.

This deck used to be good way back in the day for modern age, Good Guys:

4x Sue Dibny
4x Ted Kord <> Blue Beetle
2x Mr. Mxy, Troublesome Trickster
3x Booster Gold
1x Maxwell Lord
1x Connor Hawke <> Green Arrow
1x Adam Strange
4x Shayera
3x Kator
1x Fire
1x John Henry Irons
1x Power Girl, Child of Crisis

4x Magnificent Seven
4x Enemy of My Enemy
4x Bwa Ha Ha Ha HA
4x Worlds Greatest Heroes
4x No Man Escapes the Manhunters

4x Kooey Kooey Kooey

4x Nth Metal
1x Cloak of Nabu
1x Light Armor

this is a pretty decent shell. With 4 open slots for whatever one ofs you wanna play to tutor out with Kooeys. You could change up the some of the character numbers any way you seem fit. Sue will always get you whatever 2 you want.

Reform the league is an ok card but most of the time that slow is better to be a pump or search. You can play Heroes Welcome over Enemies for a budget build. Maybe UN General Assembly as well. Everything else is worth almost nothing.




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OMB
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I'd go the JLA/JLI build better known as "Good Guys". Here's an old list: http://vs.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?ID=11516.

That list is from when DCR came out so you might want to update it with some of the newer cards from DCL or something and obviously some of those cards are tech for whatever meta he was playing in, but the framework is pretty solid and feel free to tinker with it however you want if you're aiming for fun and flavor over maximum kill efficiency.

EDIT: Looks like wally and I are on the same page. Also if you're interested in trying a JLA/JSA build Number6 had a fun looking list posted here: http://w11.zetaboards.com/vssystem/topic/8308233/1/
Edited by OMB, Mar 26 2013, 11:28 PM.
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The_Joker
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I am well aware of the power of Good Guys, but I wanted to make something new, like a curve deck. I thought about JLA/JSA as well, but not as much.

Were there any curve decks of these affilliations that abused Ally ?
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unclechawie
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You've got several options on 6,7 and 8 on team, however, given that you're trying to abuse Ally, there's not too many that will fit the bill. I see Batman at 6, Superman at 7 and Martian Manhunter on 8.
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Wallywest1988
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The weak curve post turn 5 is pretty much why people opt to stop at 5. You trade a sub-par 6 drop to play Kooey and get any card you want and an alternate 5 if you go to turn 6.

Ally/Good Guys just tends to hit decently hard on 3-5 and curving to 6 isn't needed.

The best ally cards were pretty much Kator and Shayera and this deck utilizes them will. Sadly the rest weren't that great.
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The_Joker
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So far I'm still determined to play the mono JLAlly deck. This is the current list I made and it has 54 cards in it.

Characters (26):
4x Connor Hawke, Son of the Archer
4x Red Tornado, John Smith
4x Shayera Thal, Thanagaran Enforcer
2x Aquaman, Arthur Curry
4x Katar Hol, Thanagarian Enforcer
4x John Henry Irons
2x Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas
2x Martian Manhunter, Manhunter from Mars

Equipment (5):
4x Nth Metal
1x Atlantean Trident

Locations (3):
3x Monitor Womb Station

Plot Twist (20):
4x Hero's Welcome
4x Reform the League
4x Magnificent Seven
4x Acrobatic Dodge
4x No Man Escapes the Manhunters


I'm missing a 6-drop since that is the primar issue with the JLA. Also ss extra power-ups I thought about Soul World/Slaughter Swamp or Reconstruction Programm. Here are my options

1) At first I was thinking about Batman or Hal Jordan, but Hal has Willpower 5 and lets me move a 4-drop, which shouldn't be on the field against a normal cuve deck at that moment. Agains swarm decks that's a differend story.
Batman has a nice ability, but his stats, no F/R and I'll be wanting to dump my cards for other effects.

2) Then there's an off-curve/on-initiative combo of Black Canary, "Pretty Bird" and Connor Hawke on 6 to exhaust characters and make other ones lose reinforcement and every character will be +3/+1 while attacking a greater cost for each power-up, assuming i still have Katar hol on the field.

3) Or since Steel is a huge character with Wtlantean Trident, he could be played as a T6 character along with Ray Palmer. Then I'd go with Firestorm on T5 and Steel+Ray Palmer on T6.

4) Find a nice off-affilliation 6-drop that abuses power-up e.g. Leader Storm or Leader Kang

What to do on T6 and how to fill up the rest of the slots of the deck?
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Grumqa
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I've got a JLA ally deck that curves to 8 and has been really solid for me. I have another that's JLA/JSA that works well enough, but isn't as strong. Both are built around 3-drop Shayera.

Here's the mono deck, as best as I can remember it:
Characters (23):
4x 2-drop Oracle
4x 3-drop Shayera
4x 4-drop DJL Katar Hol
4x 5-drop Steel
4x 6-drop DCL Aquaman
2x 7-drop DCL Wonder Woman
1x 8-drop DCL Martian Manhunter

An older version ran four each of DCL and DJL 2-drop Red Tornado, but the Oracle version works better.
Locations (10):
4x Watchtower
4x Slaughter Swamp
4x Hall of Justice
1x Satellite HQ
1x Poseidonis

Plot Twists (23):
4x Magnificent Seven
4x Heroes' Welcome
4x Mightiest Heroes
3x Bring It On!
4x New Era
4x Truth, Justice & Peace
Equipment (4):
3x Nth Metal
1x Atlantean Trident

The counts are off, but I don't have the deck in front of me.

It's very reliable about hitting 3-8 (though going to 8 is rare), and keeping a full board. The 4-drop is 9/9 with an Nth Metal and Steel starts at 11/11 and gains +1/+1 counters. Aquaman isn't interesting for his stats, but the character and non-character cards from the KO pile give the deck a second wind on turn 6, usually winding up with a Steel or Katar Hol for powerup or recovery and an Nth Metal or a Bring It On or Truth Justice & Peace. I generally keep Steel if both the 5 and 6 get stunned, though, and 7 finishes it. Attack turns are generally Shayera into their highest drop with powerups and Katar Hol's ability, and then attacking down the curve after that.

I remember helping a friend build another JLA ally deck that skipped the 6 like you're considering. He ran Zatanna and I think Steel, and on 6 recruited Atom or something. Aztek and Gypsy wouldn't be bad 1-ofs either, if you were going that route, and the DCL Black Canary. Also, 5-drop DCL Batman is good in an ally deck.

If you ran Hal, you could use New Era, Oa for +ATK and Satellite HQ for +DEF for Hal, and maybe John Stewart on 4 for extra willpower on powerups, but that starts getting into a GL/JLA deck.

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Cosmic
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Guess it depends on how you want it to play.
I had a JLA deck that used powerups/recovery effects to stall to 6 and try to win with Scarlet Speedster. Not the best, but heavily thematic and fun.
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Number6
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My first attempt at a JLAlly deck was back when the set first came out, and the build I tried to go with was meant to combine with the Green Lanterns for a Willpower-based build around John Stewart and Zatanna as the ideal 4/5 combo. Hal was my guy at 3 & 6 for Willpower-based effects and further powerup opportunities, and the game enders were Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter for plenty more Willpower and powerups on 7 & 8. Naturally there were a couple of Constructs and Kyle on 2; Hard-Traveling Heroes was the teamup and Satellite HQ was good for hidden hate and a big DEF bonus to Willpower attackers (made even better by Stewart's Ally-based Will boost, which Zatanna pretty much always automatically benefitted from). I never got Secret Sanctuary to make it in there for recursion, but since Hall of Justice now exists it might have to find space.

This probably isn't the most efficient way to build an Ally deck, as it's much more about Willpower than anything, but since the Ally powers basically peter out above cost 5 this was my solution: Willpower as an important mechanic alongside powerups that then boost Willpower via Stewart's Ally ability. If you liked Willpower, this might be a fun/casual option for your JLAlly deck, and if you want to keep it mono-team you could even build it without the GL/Constructs angle because there are JLA guys with Willpower along the curve (though only just barely).
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